Northern Lights Forecast to Shine Over Canada Thursday Night
The Aurora Borealis may light up Canada's sky as active solar regions generate intense space weather conditions. A volatile area of the Sun, filled with flares and powerful storms, is driving these phenomena and setting up a dramatic celestial display.
In recent weeks, both solar scientists and space weather observers have recorded a striking sequence of eruptions from the Sun. These coronal mass ejections, or solar storms, mostly emerged from the opposite side of the Sun or in directions not facing Earth. All were linked to a single sunspot formation known as Active Region 4274, which recently rotated into view on the Sun’s eastern limb.
The image captured by the SUVI instrument aboard NOAA’s GOES-19 weather satellite highlights multiple bright active regions as of November. Near the center lies a darker patch — a large coronal hole. Four inset visuals from the NASA/ESA SOHO spacecraft’s LASCO C3 coronagraph depict four substantial coronal mass ejections tied to AR 4274.
“On the morning of November 4, a powerful solar flare exploded from AR 4274. Measured as an X1.8-class flare, it is the strongest we’ve seen from the Sun since the X1.9 flare on June 19. It also ranks as the fifth strongest flare of 2025, so far.”
Sources: NOAA, NASA/ESA, Scott Sutherland
Author’s Summary
Solar activity from region AR 4274 is creating strong flares and may trigger a vivid Aurora Borealis across Canada, offering a rare spectacle driven by intense space weather.